“Rise Above The Fray” With Memphis Mayor Paul Young

07/25/24 • 49 min

Memphis, TN is where I call home. A city that has much momentum, but also a city that has significant challenges. This episode is outside my normal focus of business and entrepreneurship, but I wanted to sit down with Mayor Paul Young to discuss his journey and these things head on.

Discover his vision for transforming Memphis, a city rich in history and culture but also facing significant issues such as cutting high crime rates, economic issues, minimal population growth, and more.

With a city proper population of over 600,000 and a deep History of the blues, Elvis, and sadly Martin Luther King’ Jr.’s assassination in 1968, Memphis is known all over the world. This interview covers Mayor Young’s own journey, what drives him, his thoughts on these issues, plus his vision for the future plus much more.

Episode Highlights

Underdog’s Journey: Finding his purpose as Mayor of Memphis, doing it his way.
Hope: Tapping into people’s hope to face the tough challenges
Continuous Growth: Incremental improvements by building on strengths.
A New Legacy: Living his ancestors wildest dreams.
Vision for the Future: Balancing a delicate relationship with the District Attorney’s office.

Episode Highlights

Underdog’s Journey: Finding his purpose as Mayor of Memphis, doing it his way.
Hope: Tapping into people’s hope to face the tough challenges
Continuous Growth: Incremental improvements by building on strengths.
A New Legacy: Living his ancestors wildest dreams.
Vision for the Future: Balancing a delicate relationship with the District Attorney’s office.

Previous Episode

"Veteran Owned and Air Force Made" with Rich Johnson C.E.O. and Founder Viaquest

Hear my conversation with Rich Johnson and learn how he went from Air Force airman to CEO, building ViaQuest into a leading healthcare provider with 3,500 employees across Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

Episode Highlights

Care Trends: Evolution of managing disabilities, mental health, and hospice.
2008 Banking Crisis: How Rich steered ViaQuest through financial turmoil.
Veteran Pride: The impact of veteran leadership in business and as CEO.
Healthcare Insights: Navigating staffing challenges, Medicaid, and Covid-19.
Vocational Training: The importance of trade education and why college isn’t for everyone.

Next Episode

“Desperation Makes You Do Wonderful Things” with David Wedaman

My guest today is David Wedaman.

David began his career as an accountant at Arthur Anderson. He then left to go into the transportation industry, and after his first stop, David was a co-founder in Mark VII, which he and his partners grew to $800 million in annual revenue. After this business was taken public and sold in the late 1990’s, David founded Retrans, which he and his team built into 32 branches across the United States with sales of more than $500 million a year and sold to global logistics company KUEHNE+NAGEL.

Thank you so much for listening. This is a great episode about entrepreneurship, fighting bureaucracy, how times are changing, how to scale, community involvement and how to make an impact in the communities you live in plus much more.

Please enjoy this week’s episode with entrepreneur David Wedaman.